Hi guys, just made the move here last week and been trying to figure out things along the way still.Will appreciate all suggestions and advice on what to do or where to go.

Land is roughly rectangular in shape about 11rai in total. frontage to the small gravel road is about 85-95m. still waiting for surveyor to confirm the dimensions.--> no chanote available at this stage for land around this area yet. its only "BorTor 5". We need to get the signature from the village head (happens to be the mother of my sister-in-law's husband) to get a house number for the land, then go to the amphur to have it stamped and legit. Once this is done then can we apply for a license to build and operate a trading business on the land and wait till the time when the area is developed enough before chanote can be obtained.

Qn: the explanation on the land... is it true? I'm still trying to read up on it.

Photo1.Land with the tapioca crop still in

Photo2.Brother in Law (BiL) bulldozing the land in preparation for levelling and compacting

photo3.Tentative layout for the main building.Single story with wall height at 4m. trying to figure out roofing, sewerage and all other details along the way. =.= Low budget of 400k thb thus will be mainly thai style.

the local water guy recommended by the amphur office quoted 29kTHB all in to drill and set up a 4"nuit" water pump (1200L/hr pump).Electricity wise, as our location is still out of the way, the amphur office is quoting me 6thb/nui (kilowatt?). if we were to tap into the established grid, it will be 3.2THB/nui. Only when we got the place set up and all then are we able to request to tap into the local grid.Thus, currently im weighing the possibilities of just cabling in from the BiL's uncle place which is about 300m away

Today is sunday and everyone is busy with their own stuff thus nothing much getting done. will update again once more before songkran

my FiL, the "project manager"is coming over from Loei to help oversee the whole build process.

as for myself, i'm just doing what can be done to find out on costing and all.

Tommy wrote:We need to get the signature from the village head (happens to be the mother of my sister-in-law's husband) to get a house number for the land, then go to the amphur to have it stamped and legit.

As far as I know you can't get a house number without there being a building on the land. This building has to have at least one room and one bathroom.

A very modest house design. You could get this built for well under 1 mil baht if you don't go mad on luxury fixtures, fittings, & tiles, but getting it done for 400K would be pushing your luck a bit for something generally a farang would be comfortable with - even on the materials if you get the labour free.

@JazzMan: LOL!!!! i like your post Jazzman. straight to the point but at this point in time with limited budget on hand, will have to consider all possible alternatives.

I know I'm probably pushing it with only 400k budget but doing what I can to get it done. Told my wife that as long as the walls and doors do not break with just a kick and I can have my internet access, I'm cool with it till a few years down the road when things are more stable and I have more funds to build a better home.(my internet access now is using my iphone as hotspot and attaching my laptop to it =.=)

@fredlk: yeah, you are right on that. they are usually not explaining the details to me but only on what needs to be done and how its done. had just clarified with my wife and SiL again and this time round, they explained the details as what you said. Thanks.

Update; BiL planning to purchase the sand and granite to to place on the land 1st. 4 trips using a 10 wheeler and the attachment costing 6500THB per trip. (2trips each for sand and granite)my worry --> half of the sand and granite gone by the time i'm back from songkran at my inlaws

jazzman wrote:A very modest house design. You could get this built for well under 1 mil baht if you don't go mad on luxury fixtures, fittings, & tiles, but getting it done for 400K would be pushing your luck a bit for something generally a farang would be comfortable with - even on the materials if you get the labour free.

Id concur with that nowadays 400k is too close.Although single block walls, fibre board sheeting roof, surface mounted electrics bare concrete floors, would lower costs but I couldnt live like that.For many Thais though its just fine and they are completely happy with that.

This amazes me as that 2 piece of metal are all it takes to test and search for underground water source

Setting up the drill

Drilling in progress.

Simple prayers with candles and joss sticks seeking "divine permission" to work on this piece of land.

Drilling started at 9:20am. Encountered stone or sand layer about 15m down. Drill bit broke. Packed up n resume work tomorrow with a new bit and bigger engine / machine.

I have some questions on my build that I'm not sure who to ask for answers. Gonna post them here and hope helpful members here can share their knowledge.

1. "Standard" L-shaped roof vs Stillon and lean-to Roof. Which is more cost effective and easier to build? 2. How to explain roof ventilation to them and what's the easiest way to achieve for the 2 types of roof design?3. For the floor plan attached in my above post, how many columns will I need for the build? What my FiL is suggesting is 14 columns. (Nothing mentioned to me about dimensions of the columns he is thinking of). 12 columns for the main house and 2 columns to build the office area. Sink 50cm into ground and 3m above ground for wall height.4. Am I thinking correctly in trying to work my way down from top before deciding on column strength and depth to be sinked into the ground?5. Suggestions on rubbish disposal? There is no "public service" and what everyone does around here is just to throw anywhere they want. Can anyone suggest any effective solution on clearing rubbish?

Remember sunpax that was only 36,000 Baht for doing the foundations, blocks, roof, tiling, rendering, etc. We had to get our own electrician which was 6,000 baht in total and also someone to do the ceiling which was 5,000 baht total. Precast columns we got cheaper than normal, same as the blocks and the steel as the wifes father makes all the machinery for making blocks and columns for the building merchants.

One big thing that I didn't factor into that cost was the electrical hookup. That hurt my pocket at about 70,000 Baht. (500m to transformer)

Also lots of other things which are nice to haves, such as a 10mx13m driveway costing about 15,000 Baht, a wall all the way around costing probably about 30,000 Baht and a water pump and tank at about 10,000 Baht.

LilBudda , you've been very lucky with your overall build price which at a very rough look appears to be around a total of about Baht 5,000 per m2. Nevertheless, this is a very small house, and a 'lightweight' construction, and perhaps not everyone here has access to the cheap labour that you have. In the absence of photos however, I assume this to be a fairly basic dwelling. It is extremely rare to find a labour team, whether a (bona fide )contractor or even a rag-tag bunch of locally hired labour, who will build a Wester-style house for a labour-only price of less than about Baht 3,000 per m2. Broadly speaking, labour accounts for around one-third of the turn-key price of a standard (but non-luxury) build.

Today's turn-key (bona fide)contractor prices start at around Baht 12,000 / m2 (10 years ago this was Baht 10,000) for a typical 3 - 4 bedroom hard-built bungalow with 2 bathrooms, a standard Western-style kitchen, and concrete roof tiles. see the members' gallery for some interesting, economically built houses - in particular this self-built one http://www.coolthaihouse.com/cthpics/in ... ?cat=10489 for around Baht 750,000 about 7 years ago - that at today's contractor prices would cost around at least 1.2 - 1.4 milion even in a rural area, because those are the prices I was quoted then before deciding to do it myself.

'Family built' traditional village houses on stilts cost about what you have paid. The walls will be Shera™ or Conwood™ insted of traditional teak, door and window frames will be wood, and the interior lining - if any - will be hardboard (fibre-board), thin plywood, or sheet rock (plasterboard). Wiring and plugs will be surface mounted. Pre-cast columns can certainly work out cheaper than casting columns in situ and are fine if the roof covering is only tin or composite panels. The roof is unlikely to be insulated.

Only Baht 3,000 for rebar though - I would have expected at least Baht 5,000 if proper ground beams and footings have been built.In spite of your low cost build, I'm a little surprised at the overall cost of the electric switches, sockets, etc.; the labour seems fine, considering I know someone who recently paid Baht 8,000 labour o have a Safe-T-Cut fitted in in under an hour. Unless I'm missing something, your switches, sockets, and a consumer unit with RCCB, conduit, and cable, shouldn't have come to much more than Baht 10,000, even if using the more expensive imported quality fittings such as bTicino, Häco, or Panasonic, etc.